Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT IS A TISANE?

The rest of the mis-named teas that are not made of the Camellia Sinensis plant. In our PekoeBrew range, check out Chill and Peppermint.

WHAT IS YOUR PRICING FOR SHIPPING?

Orders over $70 will be eligible for free shipping. We have a subsidised rate of $5 for orders up to and under $35, with a slightly higher rate of $10 for orders above $35 and up to $70 (more items take up more space and thus cost a little more).

***We recently set up shipping options to United Kingdom, New Zealand and United States. The details for prices are listed on our Shipping and Returns page. It is understood that international shipping is more expensive and can be cost prohibitive when postage costs as much as the product. For this reason we will continue to seek out alternatives while we have this delivery option through Australia Post in place for our international PekoeBrew early adopters***

DO YOU DO CORPORATE GIFTS OR WEDDING FAVOURS?

We have recently done a wedding for around 100 guests, designing and organising bonbonnieres for each guest as well as providing personalised tea bags. We have supplies to help with corporate events from small to large, with more tailored or larger requests needing a longer lead time - just contact us to see how we can support delivery of your event.

MILK OR NO MILK? ADD THE MILK BEFORE OR AFTER?

The politically correct response would be that this is purely based on one’s own preference. The response while you’re in my house is leave the milk outside buddy…

If you want to have milk with your tea choose a strong brew with a persistent aftertaste. Try our Assam TGFOP1 or perhaps Breakfast. The creaminess of milk can pair nicely with the astringency within the smaller leaf teas such as the broken leaf varieties of FBOP, BOP, BOPF, dust, and fannings. With a number of our premium teas however, adding milk would just give you cloudy water and that my friend, is a tragic waste of a beautiful thing.

Now, when it comes to the question of whether you add the milk first before putting the tea into the cup or whether you add the milk after, is a classic. It’s a discourse right up there with whether you put the cream or the jam on your scones first! Tightly accompanied by the stand-off whether to pronounce it as ‘skon’ or ‘skoan’. I will take a ‘no comment’ on this topic due to fear for my on-line safety and chastisement from my mother.

IS YOUR TEA ORGANIC?

Our focus is premium black teas. We work directly with suppliers and plantations, and have personally met with all our tea partners around the globe. The standards within Sri Lanka for use of pesticides is governed by the Ceylon Tea Board. A list of 27 acceptable pesticides are recommended for use by the Ceylon Tea Research Institute (TRI) for safe and optimal yield farming. I personally have been out to a TRI (Rathnapura) and seen the science driving the research about optimising strains for soil, yield, growth rate and hardiness based on what farmers in the area need for their lands. The Sri Lankan government has made strong investment into this major area of export and corresponding revenue. There is a list of pesticides that are banned along with sanctions if they are used which includes not being able to use the Pure Ceylon Tea logo or have produce sold at the bi-weekly Colombo Tea Auction. You can view details of the Sri Lanka Tea Board guidance here.

As you will find through such detailed evidence, the amounts used are small and within tolerance of the poorly understood (referring to the General Public) practice of ‘organic farming’. In our opinion (take note here!) it is safer to have a controlled use of known chemicals to manage the naturally occurring (dare I say organic) dangers associated with E.coli, Salmonella and Coliform. If this area is of interest to you we advocate doing your own research with this Scientific American article a great place to start.

Within our range the Indonesian teas we source come to us as Certified Organic (Modern Oolong, Indonesian Assamica and Aged White Jasmine) from our supplier. Also, the ingredients we use for Chill are sourced separately, originate from different countries and are all Certified Organic from our suppliers. However, as a small start up and due to the significant cost of acquiring certification, PekoeBrew ourselves are not currently organically certified.